The Irony of Leadership

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Will you turn over in your Bibles with me to the book of Mark, chapter 9, Mark 9. Mark chapter 9, and we'll begin the reading at verse 30. If you're using your pew Bibles, you're going to be able to find Mark chapter 9 on page 892. Mark chapter 9, beginning at verse 30. Hear now God's perfect and unfailing Word.

Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it. For He taught His disciples and said to them, The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day. But they did not understand this, saying, and were afraid to ask Him. Then he came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house, he asked them, What is it you were disputing amongst yourselves on the road? But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed amongst themselves who would be the greatest.

And he sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all. Then he took a little child, and set him in the midst of them. And when he had taken him in his arms, he said to them, whoever receives one of these little children in my name receives me. And whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me."

Prayer for Illumination

Let's pray. Father, we pray that this morning we might have the faith of children humbly trusting and relying upon you Lord, we pray that your spirit would be working in our hearts, that we would not just have heard these words, but that you might scribe them upon our souls with an iron pin. Help us to understand, Lord, we pray in Jesus's name. Amen.

Sermon

Recently heard a story of a man who had a son who was just a thorn in his side, problem, strong-willed son. And this man got upset and angry with his boy so much so that one day in the dining room he took his son, threw him on the ground, put his knee on his chest, pointed his finger in his face and said, don't you ever disrespect your mother like that again. If you do, I'm going to kill you.

There's a difference between authority and authoritarianism. There's a difference between the way the world might lead and the way Jesus Christ calls us to lead. Authoritarians are in love with their own power and their own pleasure. Authoritarians want what they want. They're despots and tyrants and they're going to do whatever they want to get it. Now we have an allergic reaction to authority in America. and largely it's in response to authoritarians rather than true biblical authority. As I listen to deconversion stories time and time again, what I hear in our culture lately is because of an overbearing authoritarian that they are rejecting against.

Jesus calls us to a better way. Jesus teaches us about what a real leader truly is. And your call this morning is to lead by service. Lead by service. Children, if you have one of those little outlines, or if you wanted to draw a picture, you might want to draw a picture of what you think it means to lead well. What do you think it would mean to lead well by service?

What's the context of this? This didn't just happen in a vacuum. The disciples have just seen Jesus cast out a demon that they didn't have the power to cast out. And just before that, they had been on the Mount of Transfiguration. As they were on the Mount of Transfiguration, they had seen Jesus in His glory with Moses and with Elijah. And they thought, the King is here. They heard the audible voice of God Himself. And they thought, the Commander-in-Chief is here. And then they start having an argument.

Okay, we know who the admiral is, but who's going to be captain and XO? We know who the commander is, but who's going to be, he's in charge of the battalion. But what are we in charge of? And who's got higher rank? They start arguing with each other. And Jesus, knowing what's in their hearts, right? They're arguing about this on the way, they get to Capernaum, and he asks them, guys, what have you been arguing about? He knows what's in their hearts, but he's giving them an opportunity. And well, they're silent. They have shame in their faces. They don't want to tell Jesus. Why? Well, you know this feeling, right? When you've been arguing about something and then you realize, oh man, this is a dumb argument. I'm kind of embarrassed to talk about this.

This is the place they find them. And Jesus gives them a teaching. Not just a teaching, but also an example. And he tells them the paradox of biblical leadership. The word paradox means something seems to be one way, but in reality, there's a different answer at the end. We have a hard time understanding it, but yet once you get the key, it's like unlocking a mystery that's easy to understand with it.

And Jesus says the key to leadership is the first must be last. and leaders must be servants. The kingdom of God, in His kingdom, the way up is actually by humbling ourselves and stooping down. That's what he gets out of Mark 9, verse 35. And he sat down and called the twelve and said to them, if anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all. If you want to be the head honcho, if you want to have all the brass on your shoulders and on your sleeves, if you want to be at the top of the hierarchy, guess what you need to do?

You need to serve those around you. Jesus turns the idea of the world's leadership on its head. It's not the way that the disciples understood the world. In the day and age when the disciples were living, how did you become Caesar? How did you become a senator? Well, you did it through treachery. You did it through murdering people. You did it by doing whatever you needed to do to get up the ladder. And whatever the cost, if you could get the power, then it was justified.

Jesus, not so in my kingdom. Not so. And he does this by showing them through a child. Mark chapter nine, verses 36 and following. Then he took a little child and he set him in the midst of them. I love this part. And when he had taken him into his arms, he said to them, whoever receives one of these little children in my name receives me and whoever receives me will not receives not me but him who sent me."

Why does Jesus use a kid though? Why this object lesson? Why does he bring this little boy into there and wrap his arms around this little boy and look his disciples dead in the eyes and say, you want to be the greatest in the kingdom? You love a little boy. You care for a child. You serve them.

Let me ask you, why does a parent get up at 2 a.m. to change a child's dirty diaper? Some of you know this by experience, right? Is it because maybe for some of you it was just, I just needed sleep. And this was the only way I was gonna get sleep is I had to fix this problem. Maybe sometimes that's the case. Is it because you changed that baby's diaper because you thought, oh, I'm just so excited because I really like this? No. No, if that was you, then come to the office. We have some counseling to do. You've got a weird personality. We need to talk.

But nobody goes in at 2 o'clock in the morning with groggy eyes to go change a child's dirty diaper because they think, I'm going to get something out of this. Why would a parent who's supposed to be leading their family do this? Because they love the child. Do you know what happens to a child if you leave them in their filth? The child is harmed. They can get sick. They can even die if it lasts long enough.

A parent does this because they love that child. Jesus is holding this boy in his arms and he's telling them, do you know what service looks like? Go love a child. This is the difference between teachers who are just going to get a paycheck and teachers who are going because they truly love their students. You receive welcome and care for a child out of selfless love.

But I need to say, right, and I'm going to give a qualification here. There are some of you and some of you who you know that wanted to have children, can't have children. And that's a sad thing, right? I mean, you look at Hannah in the Bible and you see people who desire to have a child.

I'm not talking about that here. But in our culture, people don't want to have babies. People don't want to have children. Why don't people want to have children today? There's literally a whole TikTok thread you could go on, on why people don't want to have children. The number one reason is, it's going to stop me from doing the things I want to do. I want to see the world. I want to make an income. I want to do these things. And the heart of that is, I don't want to love someone else. I've got me to love first.

This is why abortion sadly booms in our country. as a standard of living is put higher than a child's life. This is why even when there are children in our culture, it's often just a byproduct of pleasure rather than a desire to raise a family. I know this isn't a popular thing to say and it might be a hard thing to hear, but children are a blessing from the Lord. And this is what Jesus is saying, right? Why? Because we get to care for them, we get to love them, we get to bring up a new generation of disciples for the kingdom. Sadly, this makes its way even into the church.

I was raised in one of these churches, where they were worried about mom and dad being distracted during the church, and they just wanted a break, right? And so children weren't allowed to come to corporate worship, but we were sent away to Sunday school class, so mom and dad could worship. We were robbed of worship for 18 years of our lives. Because mom and dad wanted comfort.

There's all sorts of stories of failed leadership in the Bible that we could go to. I just want to point out two of them of these authoritarian, selfish leaders. If we think of the high priest, Eli. We think of his son Hopni and Phinehas, and as they were his sons and they were in the temple, this is when Samuel was still a boy, Eli was getting old, his boys were growing up, they're grown men, and when people would come to make their sacrifices, do you know what his boys would do? They would shoulder their way in, take their forks, and they would take out whatever meat out of the sacrifice they wanted, and they would eat it. Literally stealing food out of God's offering and out of the people's mouths.

And Eli didn't restrain his boys. He just let them do it. He reprimanded them. Guys, you shouldn't do this. But he didn't do anything to actually stop them. These were leaders. These were priests in the temple, and they were stealing from God's people. Why? Because they wanted their pleasures, their things, their way. It didn't matter that they were leaders in God's house. They were going to serve themselves, not the Lord.

And maybe one of the largest examples we have in the Old Testament is David himself. If we track back the story of David's grievous sin with Bathsheba, we find that he's not out at the front lines where he would normally be. But David becomes the type of general, becomes the type of leader, instead of being in the camps, With Joab and Uriah, with the rest of his 30 men, instead he decides, this is an easy battle.

I'm gonna stay home. I'll stay in the palace. I'll just, right, the cooks are pretty great here. They bring me the best food. I'm just gonna hang out here. You guys go fight the battle. David puts his place of position and he loves his own leisure and ease.

And then he chases after the desires of his own sinful heart, rather than loving even one of his mighty men, Uriah. He steals his wife. Why? Why would he become such an abusive leader? Why would he become such a man who is a man after God's own heart? Because at this moment he starts to chase after his own heart, rather than loving God and loving God's people. He schemes to try to get away and he clings to power with a false sense of propriety, you know, trying to trick Uriah into going sleeping with his wife and then eventually murdering Uriah by the hands of his enemies. He lies, he murders, he betrays. Why? Because he's become a leader about himself, rather than about serving others.

If you want to be a true leader in God's kingdom, it starts not with you. Look in the pews around you. It starts with serving other people. If you want to be a true leader in God's kingdom, it starts with loving those who can do absolutely nothing for you in return.

I just want to stand here and thank many of you. Many of you who have worked for VBS and have been Sunday school teachers and have poured out your life for decades and decades into children, thank you for loving the little ones. Many of you have gone to widow's houses and have done work for those who are poor and afflicted. Thank you for doing what nobody else will see as you go and serve others.

Do not grow weary of doing good. This is why James tells us pure and undefiled religion is this, to go and care for the orphan and the widow in their distress. Why? What do you get going to a nursing home? Are you going to get rich going to a nursing home? Are you going to go and find a whole bunch of popularity going to a nursing home and caring for somebody who is bedridden? No, you go to encourage them, to serve them, to love them.

I want to give you a few applications and illustrations here. And I hope that the army guys are sleeping. They normally are. But I'm going to use an illustration from them. In the Navy, there's a real hierarchy. I mean like us enlisted, lower enlisted peons, we slept in a room about the size of this room with about 135 to 165 guys. And then if you got higher up in the ranks and you were a chief, you got to go to the same size room but with like 30 people. And if you were an officer, you might get a whole room and you only sleep with two other people.

And guess what? They didn't even have to eat with us. They had their own cafeterias, their own line, their own food. They didn't eat with us peons. And then I found out that in a lesser branch, the army, they do something different. Those people who are non-commissioned officers wait until last. They let all of us peons go through and eat first, and the leaders eat last. Why? Because it's this idea of servant leadership. But it's not just the military.

I mean, you can even think of this even in your own work experience, can't you? As you think about people who have led you in your life, you've had two different types of people lead you in business, haven't you? You've had bosses, and then you've had leaders. You've had the boss who is about nothing but the bottom line, doesn't care about you, doesn't care about what's going on in your life, doesn't care that he's expecting the output but hasn't given you the resources and the authority to get things done.

He's just going to drill down on you until you get things finished. And then you have leaders who invest, mentor, train, build up, encourage, enable their people to actually accomplish the goals. There's a big difference between these two. One is serving the people under them, And the other is just trying to get to the end. I'm gonna suggest to you that time and time again in leadership examples, it's those who will mentor by service and investing in those under them that the institution does far better than having bosses. This is the difference between a teacher and a mentor.

The teachers who are actually involved in their students' lives want to care for them, want to pour their lives into them, want to develop them, want to care for them, and they're not just there because the union says they have to be there a certain number of minutes during the day.

But even in the church, there are elders who want all the honor, but none of the service. There are elders who want to rule God's people, but they don't want to love God's people. There are leaders in the church who look a lot more like dictators than they look like shepherds. There's a lot of preachers who look a whole lot more like eggheads than they look like disciples. Our church isn't immune to any of these.

But I wanna bring to you, I'm gonna speak here specifically to fathers. Everyone else is leader, if you're leader of anything, please lean into this, but specifically this morning, I wanna lean into fathers. I wanna talk to you this morning as a specific application, as God has called you in your life as husbands and as fathers. How do you, lead those God has entrusted to your care.

I was encouraged just on Friday, Olivia and I were up in Minnesota, and I normally don't hold up books, but I'm going to hold up this book because this guy's an F-16 fighter pilot. His name's Chuck Black. I like this book so much that on Friday night my wife was going to bed and at midnight I was finishing the book when I bought it Friday afternoon. It's a short book, it's a helpful book, but he points out He has eight, I'm going to change it to nine points of what does it mean to be a good father and husband?

How do you be the leader that Jesus Christ has called you to be? What are the principles of that leadership? First, have a vision greater than yourself. Have a vision greater than yourself. Men, if your entire marriage, your entire parenting is all about the fund you want to have and the things you want to do, and it's not something greater than yourself, it's not leaving a legacy for your kids, it's not fighting for the glory of God, it's not for the furthering of the mission of the kingdom of the Lord, then your people are not going to follow you. For where there is no vision, there are no followers.

What is the vision that you have set for your family? Number two, develop strong relationships with each member of your family. Develop strong relationships with each member of your family. This is costly. But God numbers every hair upon your head. He knows you by name. Are you spending time with your wife? Are you spending time with your children? Are you invested in them? Or does your phone, your hobbies, your computer, whatever it is, get your attention? Develop strong relationships with each member of your family.

Thirdly, assume responsibility. Assume responsibility and use authority wisely. Any schmo can have a baby. But the difference between having a child and being a father and a husband is taking responsibility. Being a man who has said, Jesus Christ has entrusted this family into my hands, how will I lead them? How will I love them? How will I care for them? And use the authority that he puts in your hands wisely, husbands.

God himself knows that authoritarianism knocks at our back door and is always tempting us. That's why he tells us and warns us, and man, this makes me scared. Husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way. So weaker vessel, why? Lest your prayers be hindered. You wanna know one of the reasons why some of you might have a hard time relating to God? You might wanna look at how you're relating to your wife.

Fourthly, communicate effectively. Communicate effectively. Man, there's just too many, there's too many sitcoms, right, where the father is just the dope who sits on the couch and watches TV all day, just grunts instead of talking to his family. Communicate with your family. Care for your family.

Fifthly, build your people up. Build your people up. This is Ephesians type language. Let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth, but only that which is necessary to impart grace. Are you going to build others up with your words? Train your people to be a team.

First Point

Are you guys working towards the same? This is why you had to establish a vision at the first point. And as you work together as a team, are you bringing people in line? Do the children know that their obedience matters for a reason, not just because they have tyrants for parents? Seventh, men, you need to make some difficult decisions.

I'm going to say, right? After I had gone to this lecture, and I was halfway through the book, I sat down for dinner with Olivia. Mom watched the kids over the last couple days, and it was nice that we actually got to sit down and talk quietly, and I asked her, and I went through each of these with her. Am I doing this? Do I do this? Do I do this? And when it came to this one, she was like, oh no, you hate making difficult decisions.

Man, we can't defer off what God has told us to do. At the end of the day, To be the head of the home means you own it. You take responsibility. We need to make the difficult decisions and not just delegate the difficult ones to those beneath who are supposed to be supporting us. And by beneath, don't hear that as in this patriarchal hierarchy type way. I mean people who we're supposed to care for and love. God's put us in that place. Eighth, be confident. You need to have a confidence that God has designed the family.

If God has put you in a place of leadership as husband, or as father, or for some of you, you're no longer fathers, but you're grandfathers, or you have a place in business, these things still apply. You can have confidence that you could know authority is real. But just because you have authority doesn't mean you have to be a jerk. Be confident, but not arrogant. ninth finish the race finish the race be resilient we have far too many husbands far too many fathers who they started the race they made their marriage vows tell death do us part and then at 15 8 20 35 years are saying, I quit.

Run the race well with perseverance. I love having cross-generational church. I love that there are people in this congregation who have been married almost twice as long as I've been alive. Thank God for it. Finish the race, be resilient. But Jesus isn't just content in telling his disciples, here's what a leader is to do and to be, but Jesus showed it. We need to look to Jesus as the fulfillment of this type of leader. I know we're reading the passage backward, but I want to do that for a reason. Look with me at verses 30 through 32. Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee.

And He did not want anyone to know it. For He taught His disciples and said to them, The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise on the third day. But they did not understand this saying and were afraid to ask Him."

Jesus is going to put His money where His mouth is. This is the second prediction that Jesus has in the book of Mark. There's three of them. This is the second one. Prediction is probably not the right word. That's what commentators use. He prophetically tells them what's going to happen. And think about this. It is Jesus Christ who holds all power in his right hand. It is Jesus Christ who has the crown of glory upon his head. It is Jesus Christ who is robed in majesty. It is Jesus Christ who is the commander of the armies of heaven.

And yet he humbled himself into the likeness of a man not to be served, but to serve. Jesus came knowing he would be betrayed, and yet he still calls Judas to be a disciple. Jesus is willing to die for his brothers and for his friends, and he knows that this is coming, but he's going to serve others.

Jesus loved his disciples. He built bonds with his followers. If we looked at those nine things I gave you, Jesus fits every single one of them. Jesus assumed responsibility and he used his authority wisely. Jesus communicated effectively, so effectively that it's been over 2,000 years and we're still listening to his words. Jesus built others up, was full of truth and grace. Every syllable that came out of Jesus' mouth was meant to impart grace to others, to build them up, to speak the truth. Jesus was the leader of all leaders. He did not just call His 12 disciples to Himself and say, alright man, we're off to war.

But He trained them for three years, investing in them, putting up with them. If you've ever read anything about Peter, putting up with some of his shenanigans and like, what are you thinking man? But yet He still cares for him. He still builds him up. He tells him truths that aren't easy. Jesus makes decisions that are hard. Decisions that will take him to a garden where he will sweat blood, wrestle with God all night in prayer, knowing that he has to go to the cross, and it must be of his own will.

No one can take his life from him, but he must freely lay it down. Yes, Jesus Christ was killed by the Jews, by the hands of the Romans, but it was Jesus Himself who made that decision that He would go like a lamb to the slaughter without a single word. It was Jesus who was sure of truth, His role, and who He was. He was confident that His Father had sent Him, and yet He was not arrogant as a leader. Jesus is always deflecting to the glory of the Father, and He's a model of leadership, as He was determined to finish His race.

And that's what He's telling them in this passage. The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, three days later, He will rise again. Jesus says, I have the vision. I know what the end goal is, and I'm going to go there, men. They don't understand this yet. They're not going to understand it. for a while to come, but as they saw their leader go to the cross and fulfill his word, they would follow him to their dying breaths.

What type of leader are you? Mothers, as you lead your children. Fathers, as you lead your wives and your children. Workers, as you go to your workplaces and you manage your people. As you run your businesses, as you teach in your schools, as you go about your lives, do you do so serving others?

Let me warn you, it's going to take sacrifice. This is not easy. It will not be comfortable. But this is what God has called you to do, and by the power of His Holy Spirit, He will enable you to do so. So brothers and sisters, live as servants of Christ. Look around the pews, have it on your mind to always ask this one question, how can I help? Jesus came not to be served, but to serve. We likewise walk at his footsteps.

Closing Prayer

Let's pray. Father, I pray this has not just been a legalistic sermon, but that your Holy Spirit would so take grip of our hearts to see the sacrificial work of Jesus as our Lord, as our master, as our king, as our leader. Father, we cannot just muster up enough strength to do this ourselves. We pray that you would please work in our hearts that we would be sacrificial leaders for your kingdom, for your glory.

In Jesus' name, amen. Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.